This evening, by a 4-2 vote, the Oro Valley Planning and Zoning Commission denied Beztak's request of a General Plan Amendment for the Ford Property. The request was to allow high density residential (apartment) use of this property.
The four Commissioners who voted to not approve this request (Swope, Cox, Napier and Lemaster) did so based on a collection of the following factors:
- This is a very nice project that is simply not suited for this property given its present designation as commercial
- Amending this property for this use is not consistent with the intent of the General Plan
- Amending this plan for this use would remove 7% of land available for commercial use. This is a significant decrease.
Interestingly, Commissioner Cain voted to approve the Amendment because he felt that it would be better for the residents to have an apartment built on this property than a commercial building. The Commissioner may be right. However, that criteria is not one of the four reasons that must be considered in amending the General Plan.
The next step is for the Town Council to consider this Amendment.
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